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USDA purges animal welfare information from its website

The Feral Blog

Written by Ted Semon

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

The Washington Post recently ran an article about the Federal Government abruptly removing the Animal Welfare information from its website.

From the article; "...In a statement, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which it said was the result of a “comprehensive review” that took place over the past year. It said the removed documents, which also included records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, would now be accessible only via Freedom of Information Act Requests..."

Obviously this is a huge blow to those people who care about the welfare of animals. While many might blame this on the Trump administration, a review of the facts shows that this type of information on the Federal government website was starting to get removed / redacted last fall under the Obama Administration.

It makes no difference, of course, which administration is to blame for this - the records should be restored.

HSUS is now suing the Federal Government to restore these records. HSUS has a history of having to sue the Government to get this information and, according to the HSUS story, "The agency’s precipitous decision to purge virtually all AWA and HPA enforcement documentation – just two weeks after President Trump assumed office — violates the plain terms of the settlement and a federal court order. It also runs contrary to Congressional provisions in 1996 and 2016 designed to increase transparency and electronic access to information.

Let's hope that their lawsuit is successful and quickly bears fruit. If you want to add your voice to theirs, you can sign the HSUS petition.